Glyphs and Gears

Of Pigs and Ogres

29

MAY/10

After the battle, the Charles Nortier and Theodor Flickt Ritzen began to approach Jasper, only to see him fall to one knee and grasp at his stomach. After hurrying to him, they saw the would from the goblin boss was now bleeding a thick, black blood; clearly a horrible poison. Knowing he had not long to live, Jasper inquired about the findings inside the mountain. When the heroes told of their findings, of the etching and the mysterious door, Jasper went even paler. He recalled an ancient tale from the area, where “A great evil once came upon the land and enslaved or killed anyone or anything that got in his path. This evil warlord would sometimes leave for days or weeks at a time, leaving his most fanatical follower to keep a tight grip over the people, with the help of the beasts the evil brought from his world. One day, while the tyrant was gone, three of the villages most respected men rose up against the man evil steward, and chased him back into the mountain. Only two came back out, and they were not quick to speak of the horrors they saw. However, it was learned that there was a secret passage into the depths of the mountain, and that deep inside there was a room with a portal to another world fully of metal and cranks and terrible beasts with no words to describe. One of the surviving heroes was a scribe of incredible natural talent, and he used his powers to seal the portal shut for eternity. Or that was the plan, but it is clearly not so. The last of the ancient scribes lineage died in their home when the beasts attacked again, and the other hero’s ends with me and my son, one of the fallen warriors from the goblin raid. It is a bad omen that these beasts return and the last line of our villages hero’s die.” With that, Jasper gave Charles Nortiera dagger, the one embedded in the head of one of the beasts when they showed up to investigate, telling them that it has been in the family of the ancient scribe for eons. He told them it was no longer safe here in Canton, with the portal clearly no longer sealed and the goblin activity on the rise, and asked them to take his people with them, at least as far back as Bawthik, where hopefully their tribal brethren would help to make a new town for the fishers. After doing so and arriving back in Bawthik, the village elder was, surprised would be putting it mild, to see them return with the crowd. After learning it was Jasper who requested the help of the Bawthik people, he agreed to assist construct a new village on the river, under one condition. It would be impossible to do this now, because there was a family of ogres that lived on the river, and he had already lost more them one champion attempting to eradicate them. If the travelers could go and slay the ogres and their pig pets, and bring back the tusks of Soullick, the largest of these pigs to prove the task was done, then they would help.